Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.
This curse belongs to the directions in Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28 that plainly state the blessings of obedience. Its chapter presents obedience as bringing blessing and disobedience as bringing a curse, with stated curses for disobedience. It is part of the Lord's command to Israel to do His statutes and judgments with all the heart and with all the soul, having avouched the Lord to be their God to walk in His ways and hearken to His voice, and the voice speaking was Christ from the pillar of cloud.
It expresses the principles of the law of the kingdom of God made specific so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. It presents the never-ceasing obligation of all whom God has blessed with life and health and advantages in temporal and spiritual things. Its message has not grown weak because of age, and God's claims in it are just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as God's gifts are fresh and continual.
It was one of the curses pronounced from Mount Ebal, the mount of curses, on the day and after Israel crossed over Jordan, directed against the disobedient. It was set opposite Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessings, from which blessings upon the obedient were pronounced, with the advantages of the blessing and the disadvantages of the curse publicly repeated from two prominent positions. After each declaration the whole congregation said Amen, hearing the consequences of disobedience and affirming them. By that assent they accepted the conditions and placed themselves under solemn responsibility to fulfill them.
The public pronouncement after passing over Jordan was God's way to make His law familiar and impressive, to deter from transgression and to encourage obedience. It shows His careful, particular care for a forgetful people, and the people were told to plaster stones and write the commandments of God upon them. It shows that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but takes greatest pleasure in those who turn from sin. It is part of the law whose statutes and precepts Joshua rehearsed to Israel, including the curses that would follow if they disregarded God's commands. It belongs to the covenant ceremony associated with Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, whose terms included this curse; the mountains witnessed Israel's solemn vows, which the people gathered at Shechem to renew before Joshua.
This curse belongs to the directions in Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28 that plainly state the blessings of obedience. Its chapter presents obedience as bringing blessing and disobedience as bringing a curse, with stated curses for disobedience. It is part of the Lord's command to Israel to do His statutes and judgments with all the heart and with all the soul, having avouched the Lord to be their God to walk in His ways and hearken to His voice, and the voice speaking was Christ from the pillar of cloud.
It expresses the principles of the law of the kingdom of God made specific so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. It presents the never-ceasing obligation of all whom God has blessed with life and health and advantages in temporal and spiritual things. Its message has not grown weak because of age, and God's claims in it are just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as God's gifts are fresh and continual.
It was one of the curses pronounced from Mount Ebal, the mount of curses, on the day and after Israel crossed over Jordan, directed against the disobedient. It was set opposite Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessings, from which blessings upon the obedient were pronounced, with the advantages of the blessing and the disadvantages of the curse publicly repeated from two prominent positions. After each declaration the whole congregation said Amen, hearing the consequences of disobedience and affirming them. By that assent they accepted the conditions and placed themselves under solemn responsibility to fulfill them.
The public pronouncement after passing over Jordan was God's way to make His law familiar and impressive, to deter from transgression and to encourage obedience. It shows His careful, particular care for a forgetful people, and the people were told to plaster stones and write the commandments of God upon them. It shows that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but takes greatest pleasure in those who turn from sin. It is part of the law whose statutes and precepts Joshua rehearsed to Israel, including the curses that would follow if they disregarded God's commands. It belongs to the covenant ceremony associated with Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, whose terms included this curse; the mountains witnessed Israel's solemn vows, which the people gathered at Shechem to renew before Joshua.